Canterbury and Gisborne recorded the strongest tourism spending growth in the country in the year to December.
Canterbury and the Gisborne region recorded the biggest jumps in tourism spending in December. Photo: RNZ
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment released its monthy regional tourism estimates this afternoon.
Gisborne recorded a 16 percent boost in spending in the year to December, reaching $65 million.
Close to $4 billion was spent in Canterbury in the year to December - an increase of 11 percent.
No percentage changes were recorded in Auckland, Northland and the West Coast while Tasman recorded the only loss in the year to December, dropping two percent to reach $294m.
Auckland raked in the most spending overall at more than $8.2 billion during the same period.
However, several regions including Nelson and Marlborough recorded drops in spending in December 2018 from the previous December.
The West Coast recorded a 13 percent drop during the same time period with a total spend of $57m.